Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
April 12, 1890 Nearly three decades after becoming the first streetcar company to operate in Washington, D.C., the Washington and Georgetown Railroad achieved a new milestone by switching from horse-drawn streetcars to cable cars. “CABLE CARS RUNNING,” proclaimed a headline in that day’s edition of the Washington Critic. This change took placed due to a... Continue Reading →
April 11, 1954 In southwestern France, a newly constructed airport was opened in the region known as the French Basque Country. This airport is specifically located just 3.1 miles (five kilometers) southeast of the city of Biarritz, a popular seaside tourist destination. Guy Petit (1905-1988), who served as mayor of Biarritz from 1945 to 1977,... Continue Reading →
April 10, 1969 Harley J. Earl, a pioneer of modern automobile design, died in West Palm Beach, Florida, at the age of 75. He started out life in Hollywood, California. His father’s own transportation career involved building horse-drawn vehicles in the late 19th century and then focusing on custom bodies and accessories for automobiles. Harley eventually worked... Continue Reading →
April 7, 2018 On New Zealand’s North Island, a bus station in Manukau (a suburb of the city of Auckland) was officially opened. Those on hand for this inaugural ceremony included Phil Twyford, New Zealand’s minister of transport from 2017 to 2020; and Phil Goff, mayor of Auckland between 2016 and 2022. Construction on Manukau... Continue Reading →
April 6, 1974 In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), a dedication ceremony was held for a concrete box girder bridge crossing the Myall River and connecting the towns of Tea Gardens and Hawks Nest. The Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest Bridge was officially opened by Leon Punch (1928-1991), who served as NSW’s minister for... Continue Reading →
April 5, 1997 Parque Bustamante (Bustamante Park) station, a facility of Line 5 of the Chilean rapid transit system known as the Santiago Metro, first went into service in the commune of Providencia in the vicinity of Chile’s capital city of Santiago. This underground station owes its name to the urban park that is located... Continue Reading →
April 3, 1996 The British sports car Jaguar E-Type, which achieved worldwide renown when it was manufactured by Jaguar Cars Ltd. between 1961 and 1974, made another cultural breakthrough by becoming only the third automobile placed on permanent exhibit at the New York City Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Christopher Mount, assistant curator for the... Continue Reading →
April 3, 1920 A heavily attended truck show in Los Angeles came to a close. This eight-day event took place at Praeger Park in the central part of the city. The Los Angeles Motor Truck Show reflected the nationwide popularity of trucks that had steadily grown throughout most of the previous decade and fully blossomed in the... Continue Reading →
March 30, 1968 The last regularly scheduled passenger train service at a railroad station in northern Alabama’s city of Huntsville took place at a time in which that longtime facility was marked for permanent closure. The train making this final run at the Huntsville Depot was the Tennessean, which had been operated by Southern Railway... Continue Reading →
March 29, 2012 A cable-stayed bridge in Dallas, Texas, was formally opened to vehicular traffic, with a group of motorcyclists being among the first to travel across the new structure. This bridge was named after Margaret Hunt Hill (1915-2007), a longtime Dallas resident and renowned philanthropist. The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge spans the Trinity River... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 